Fuel-vaporizer for combustion-engines



C. G. HEDGES.

FUE'L VAPORIZER FOR COMBUSTION ENGINES. y

APPLICATION FILED APR. s. |918.

1 ,343,053. PanIedJune s, 1920.

ATTORNEY y. CHESTER G. HEDGES, 0F CHASE, KANSAS.

FUEL-VAPORIZER FOR COMBUSTION-ENGINES.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application led April 9, 1918. Serial No. 227,520.

To all whom. 'it may Concern.'

Be it known that I, CHESTER G. HEDGns, a citizen of the United States', residing at Chase, in the county of Rice and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-Vaporizers for Combustion-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fuel vaporizing attachments for internal combustion engines.

The object of the invention is to provide simple and eflicient means for pre-heating and vaporizing the fuel before it enters the engine to insure ready starting of the engine and to economize in the use of fuel.

Another object is to provide a simply constructed device of this character which may be easily applied to the manifold of any engine. y

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will appear as the description iroceeds, the invention resides in the comination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope lof what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a front elevation of an engine manifold and carbureter with parts broken out to show this improved vaporizer in operative position,

Fig. 2 is an end elevation showing a different form of vaporizer, and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale of the form shown in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fin'. 1, a carbureter is shown diagrammaticall at 1 with which is connected the usual engine manifold 2 by the clamping bolts 3 which pass' through laterally extending flanges on the meeting end of the carbureter and manifold. Arranged within the manifold at any point between the carbureter needle and engine cylinders, preferably adjacent its junction with the carbureter is an electric heater, here shown in the form of a reticulated cylinder 4 which constitutes the resistance and has .a center supporting core 5. This cylinder 4 has laterally extending' members 6 which are designed to extend between the flanges of the manifold and carbureter which are secured by bolts 3 and to be held clampingly between them, said meinbers having apertures for the reception of the current wires for supplying the electricity to the heater.

From the above description it will be obvious that when this heater is set in action, the fuel in the form of gas and air which enters the manifold will be broken up and heated by the heater before it passes into the engine cylinders, so that when it reaches said cylinders, and the spark is produced, it will quickly ignite and start the engine.

The electricity for operating this heater may be furnished from any suitable source such as a battery of primary or storage cells which is frequently used for producing an electric spark to ignite the combustible charge within the cylinder.

After the engine has been started, the electric circuit containing the heating device may be opened to cut out the heater, or if it becomes desirable to maintain a less degree of temperature in the fuel, suitable means may be provided for manipulating the heater so as to increase the electrical resistance in the path of the inflowing fuel and therefore reduce the current passing through the heater and reduce, its heating efficiency so that a sufficient amount of heat will be supplied for vaporizing the fuel thoroughly before its entrance into the cylinder.

It is of course to bel understood that this improved heater is adaptable for use with stationary engines as well as with engines Patented June 8, 1920. i

employed onv automobiles, boats, or the like,

around it is disposed in the manifold and.

provided with open ends, and the side walls thereof are spaced from the side walls of the manifold to krovide a dead air space 10 between them. 'Phe cylinder 7 has a resistance wire?" wound around it and the core 11 arranged therein has current wires 12 leading fromit.

The core 11 is hollow with a resistance wire 11 included therein and is provided with a plurality of laterally extending pins 13 which are `arranged to alternate with similar pins 14 carried by the inner Wall of cylinder 7, said pins being alternately disposed relatively to each other, that is, the pins 13 of the core being alternately positioned in relation to the pins 14 of the cylinn der, as is shown clearly in Fig. 3. This arrangement of pins is designed to afford retardin'g and vaporizing means for the fuel in its passage through the cylinder, so that it enters the engine in a finely comminuted or atomized condition, the heat generated by the heater also assisting in this volatilization or atomizing of the fuel.

The form of the heater shown in Figs. 2 and 3 can only be used in connection with specially constructed manifolds, but the form shown in Fig. 1 may be employed in connection with any manifold already in use, and it will be seen that by simply clamping the members of the' heater between the connecting flanges of the manifold and the carbureter, said heater will be securely held in operative position ready for use and the heat generated thereby may be readily controlled by the turning on and cutting off of the electricity by any suitable means, not shown.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains and while I have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made as are with in the scope of the claimed invention.

I claim 1. A device of the class described including a cylindrical casing having laterally eX- tending pins on its inner face and a core in said casing with a pluralit of pins radiating therefrom and alternating with the pins of the casing, and means for supplying heat to said casing and core.

i 2.- A device of the class described including a cylindrical casing having laterally eX- tending pins on its inner face and a core in said casing with a plurality of series of pins radiating therefrom, the pins of the casing and those of the core being in longitudinal alinement, and those of the series carried bythe casing being arranged in staggered relation to those of the core, and means for supplying heat to said casing and core.

In testimon whereof I affix my signature in presence o `two witnesses.

CHESTER G. HEDGES.

Witnesses:

HENRY H. OBENHAUS, J. H. LANSING. 

